Interview: Ben Mendelsohn On 'Mississippi Grind,' 'Blackbird,' Gareth Edwards And 'Rogue One'

"Mississippi Grind," the new film from directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (review), may be a two-hander (as you can tell from this new trailer), but the focus and the driver of the action is undoubtedly Gerry, the character played by Ben Mendelsohn. Emerging from the film's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival gala screening, I found myself trying to work out what exactly it was about the Australian actor in that role that was so different from almost everything else we might know him from recently —his incendiary turn in "Starred Up," his breakout "Animal Kingdom," his memorable supporting appearances in "The Place Beyond the Pines" and "Killing Them Softly," his pivotal performance in Netflix's "Bloodline." The closest I got was that as messed up and flawed as the character is (it's no spoiler to say he's an inveterate gambling addict), Gerry has no violence in him —in fact, he has a streak of soulful sweetness...